Collapsible shopping center toy with collapsible movable wall sections

ABSTRACT

A collapsible shopping center toy having a blanket or mat-type covering representing the outside grounds with access roads, green spaces, shrubs, trees and parking areas, a mall having a plurality of stores and consisting of a base and a partially open roof coupled together by means of a vertically extendible, foldable wall structures on at least two sides and separating each of said stores and rigid corner supports for retaining said foldable walls in their extended position and covering any corner gaps when located at the intersections of said wall structure between the base and the roof and a dome-type see-through roof covering the mall and giving it the appearance of a single building having within it a plurality of stores.

United States Patent Crahan et al.

COLLAPSIBLE SHOPPING CENTER TOY WITH COLLAPSIBLE MOVABLE WALL SECTIONS Filed:

Inventors: Michael J. Crahan, 10934 Southview Dr., Burnsvillc, Minn. 55337; Daniel A. Berger-on, 5717 31st Ave. South, Minneapolis, Minn.

Mar. 29, 1974 Appl. No.: 456,045

US. Cl 46/12; 296/23 C; 46/21 Int. Cl. A6311 33/42 Field of Search 46/12, 13, 21, 18, 19;

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Nelson 46/21 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 676,997 8/1952 United Kingdom 52/66 16927 10/1916 United Kingdom 46/12 Primary Examiner-F. Barry Shay Attorney, Agent, or FirmPaul L. Sjoquist 5 7 1 ABSTRACT A collapsible shopping center toy having a blanket or mat-type covering representing the outside grounds with access roads, green spaces, shrubs, trees and parking areas, a mall having a plurality of stores and consisting of a base and a partially open roof coupled together by means of a vertically extendible, foldable wall structures on at least two sides and separating each of said stores and rigid corner supports for retaining said foldable walls in their extended position and covering any corner gaps when located at the intersections of said wall structure between the base and the roof and a dome-type see-through roof covering the mall and giving it the appearance of a single building having within it a plurality of stores.

1 Claim, 12 Drawing Figures US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 10f3 3,908,304

" STREET I GREENERY L8,

I l, PARKING h SHOPPING ll CENTER IO STREET STREET PERIMETER ROAD FOR STORES 4 E 5 E (D 1 Q- I PARKING 1 A? l I 4 x H GREENERY U.S. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 2 of3 3,908,304

In ith, "h... ,28

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet 3 of3 3,908,304

COLLAPSIBLE SHOPPING CENTER TOY WITH COLLAPSIBLE MOVABLE WALL SECTIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION While there are many types of toy buildings available, none are in existence for shopping centers. Yet there are over 15,000 shopping centers in the United States with at least one major department store and 100,000 square feet of gross leasable area. These centers are doing business in excess of 50% of all retail goods sold to the public. It is estimated that by 1980 there will be over 26,000 centers doing business in excess of 70% of every dollar spent by the consumer. Besides these centers, there are literally thousands of strip and neighborhood type centers virtually everywhere people live. Going to a shopping center is as natural an act for everyone today as is any other daily routine performed by society. Shopping centers are definitely a part of the daily lives and habits of every man, woman and child in this country today.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a novel shopping center toy that is educational and yet provides a fun experience for every child so that they can understand the wonderful world of shopping which they will be encountering, as a necessity, in the soon to come adult years of their lives.

Further, in order to make the shopping center toy easy to transport in a small volume or store the toy in a small space, it is made collapsible by providing foldable wall structures. These wall structures fold in a vertical plane and are attached to the roof portion and base or mat portion so that the unit is essentially flat until the roof is lifted upwardly. Then the foldable walls expand until they are straight. Any open corners at the end edges of two walls perpendicular to each other is covered by an L-shaped corner support which also serves to hold the roof or ceiling in its extended position from the base or mat.

Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a collapsible shopping center toy.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a collapsible shopping center toy wherein the wall structures fold in a vertical plane to form an essentially flat unit and are attached to base and roof portions whereby extension of the roof portion away from the base portions extends the wall structures to their full height to form a three dimensional shopping center.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a collapsible shopping center toy in which the wall structures are extendible from an essentially flat plane to a three dimensional structure which is held in the extended position by corner supports which also serve to cover any space existing at the end edges of any two walls perpendicular to each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other more detailed and specific objec tives will be disclosed in the course of the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the mat upon which the shopping center toy rests and which includes roadways, parking and greenery on all sides of the area reserved for the shopping center toy;

FIGS. 2A, 2B, 2C and 2D are front views of the shopping center structure showing it in various stages of opening from its collapsed state in FIG. 2A to its fully extended state in FIG. 2D;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the shopping center structure showing the open roof in relation to the base which allows the user to install store walls or other devices used in stores through the open roof;

FIG. 4A is an isometric view of a corner support;

FIG. 4B is an isometric view of a section of the shopping center toy including a corner where two collapsible walls perpendicular to each other form end edges with a gap that is covered by the corner support which also supports the roof in its extended relationship with the base;

FIG. 5A is an isometric view of an individual collapsible wall section with corner supports in place to maintain the wall in its extended position;

FIG. 5B is an isometric view of the individual collapsible wall in its collapsed position;

FIG. 6 is a top view of the shopping center toy illustrating how additional collapsible walls could be set in place through the open roof to form a plurality of individual stores within the center; and

FIG. 7 is a front view of the shopping center toy showing the dome-type see-through roof covering the entire center and giving it the appearance of a single building having within it a plurality of stores. I

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As stated earlier, the novel shopping center toy comprises three separate portions including a blanket or mat-type covering representing the outside grounds with access roads, green spaces, shrubs, trees and parking areas, a mall-type shopping center structure consisting of a base and a partially open roof coupled together by means of vertically extendible, foldable wall structure and a dome-type see-through roof covering the mall and giving it the appearance of a single building having within it a plurality of stores.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the blanket or mat-type covering 5 representing the grounds outside the shopping center toy. The mat 5 could be made of soft material such as a cloth blanket or a rigid material such as plastic. In either case, the mat 5 could show a center area 10 where the mall-type shopping center itself would be located and is surrounded by a perimeter road 12 which receives traffic from access roads l4 and carries it to any part of the shopping center. Separating access roads 14 are parking spaces 16 and green areas 18. By painting shrubs and trees in the green areas 18 and giving the area 18 a represention of grass, appropriate green space will be provided. Each of the parking areas can have imprinted thereon the necessary lines to represent parking spaces. Appropriate arrows can be used to indicate proper traffic movement. If desired, streets 20 could be represented on each side of the shopping center. Thus the mat 5 forms an appropriate setting upon which to place the shopping center toy structure.

FIGS. 2A through 2D represent the shopping center structure 22 in various stages of extension from its fully collapsed state in FIG. 2A to its fully extended position in FIG. 2D. It will be noted in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C that wall structures 24 are folded in the manner of accordion pleats. These wall structures 24 are rigidly connected to roof portion 26 and to base 28. The walls 24 are on two sides and the back of the structure 22 but not the front. The front of structure 22 is left open for access to the interior. However, as will be shown hereafter, partial collapsible walls may be used to cover the front of structure 22 if desired. The manner in which roof 26 is held in its extended position from base 28 will be shown in relation to FIGS. 4A and 48.

FIG. 3 is a top view of the shopping center structure 22 showing roof 26 and base 28. The roof 26 can be seen to be a partial roof only allowing access to the interior of the structure 22 by way of the opening. The roof 26, of course, can be made in whatever degree of completion is desired. In the preferred embodiment, however, it is left open to form a mall in the structure 22 and also provide access to the interior of the structure 22 by the user thereof. It will be noted that roof 26 is of smaller dimension than the base 28. Such roof could be larger in dimension than base 28 but the walls 24 need to be set inwardly on the base 28 in order for them to be held in their extended position by supports as will be shown later herein.

FIG. 4A is an isometric view of a support 32 which is used for a twofold purpose. When the walls 24 (FIG. 2D) are in their fully extended position, some type of support is needed to maintain them in that position. Also, two perpendicular walls 24 leave a space at the corner 34 (FIG. 43) where their edges are adjacent. Thus support 32 in FIG. 4A is L-shaped and is of sufficient dimensions in a horizontal plane to cover the space at the corner 34 and of sufficient height to maintain the roof 26 in its extended position from base 28. The corner support 32 will be used at each juncture of two perpendicular walls 24 and also as supports for any additional collapsible wall structures as will be shown hereinafter.

FIG. A is an isometric view of an individual collapsiblc wall section 36 with corner supports 32 in place to maintain top portion 38 fully extended from base portion 40.

FIG. 5B shows the wall sections 36 in its collapsed state when not in use.

FIG. 6 is a top view of the shopping center toy illustrating how additional collapsible walls of the type shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B could be used to form individual stores 42 within the shopping center toy as a whole. Obviously more individual collapsible wall sections 36 could be used that those shown in FIG. 6 but only a few have been shown for purposes of simplifying the drawings. Further, these walls 36 can be positioned where desired to change size, number and configuration of the shopping center and its associated stores as desired.

FIG. 7 illustrates the shopping center toy covered with a clear, see-through dome 44 to enclose the entire center giving it the resemblance of one complete building yet allowing the user to view the multiplicity of separate stores within the complex by collapsible walls 36 held in place by corner supports 32.

Although this invention has been described with particular reference to a particular environment, various features, construction details and materials and functional relationships, various changes will be apparent to one skilled in the art and the invention is not to be limited to any particular environment, materials or functional relationships except as set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A toy simulating in miniature a shopping center, said toy comprising:

a base portion; and a roof portion; and collapsible wall structures vertically extendable and attached to said base and roof portions; and support means mountable between said base and roof portion to maintain said wall structures in their extended positions, said support means comprising a plurality of elongated brackets of L-shaped cross section which can be positioned at the corners formed by the adjacent edges of two perpendicular vertically extended ones of said wall structures to cover any gap existing thereat while maintaining the roof portion extended from the base portion; thereby forming a representation of a shopping center structure; and a plurality of individual, collapsible wall sections each having a bottom, a top, and vertically extendable, collapsible wall portions of predetermined length and height attached to said bottom and said top; and support means mountable between respective bottoms and tops to maintain said wall sections in their extended positions, said wall sections and shopping center structure being proportioned so that the wall sections may be positioned in any desired location between said base portion and roof portion whereby a plurality of individual stores may be formed within said shopping center 

1. A toy simulating in miniature a shopping center, said toy comprising: a base portion; and a roof portion; and collapsible wall structures vertically extendable and attached to said base and roof portions; and support means mountable between said base and roof portion to maintain said wall structures in their extended positions, said support means comprising a plurality of elongated brackets of L-shaped cross section which can be positioned at the corners formed by the adjacent edges of two perpendicular vertically extended ones of said wall structures to cover any gap existing thereat while maintaining the roof portion extEnded from the base portion; thereby forming a representation of a shopping center structure; and a plurality of individual, collapsible wall sections each having a bottom, a top, and vertically extendable, collapsible wall portions of predetermined length and height attached to said bottom and said top; and support means mountable between respective bottoms and tops to maintain said wall sections in their extended positions, said wall sections and shopping center structure being proportioned so that the wall sections may be positioned in any desired location between said base portion and roof portion whereby a plurality of individual stores may be formed within said shopping center toy. 